Spiral Group Show

Current works by Richard Mayhew

Spiral was a group of African-American artist that exhibited their work together in the 1960’s. This show at Evolve the Gallery is the first time since then that the 15 members have been shown together. This group of artists originally came together because of similar thoughts on the role of African-American artists in a changing American society. This was when civil-rights issues were very much a topic of conversation as well as a fight for many across the United States. This group of artists is diverse in terms of style, technique as well as choice of medium.

 

Alvin Hollingsworth, Harmony, 1970, Acrylic and ink on masonite 

While walking through this show I was very surprised to see such a range of styles and mediums. Usually when I think about an art group I expect their work to be really similar, distinguishable, but still similar, I did not get that from this show. The work ranged from painting to collage to linoleum cut prints as well as from abstract to realism. This exhibit contained mostly older works, except for new works by the artist Richard Mayhew, him along with Emma Amos are the last two remaining members of Spiral.

                                                                             

Hale Woodruff, Trusty On a Mule 
c.1935,  linoleum cut on cream
 wove paper

Hale Woodruff, Coming Home, 
c. 1935, linoleum cut on cream
wove paper

                       

The work that I enjoyed the most was by the artist Hale Woodruff (pictured above). His work was so different than anything else in the show and included linoleum cut prints on paper. The carefully cut lines of these prints are amazing. The precision of each line and simple outlined areas in shadow make these prints seem like ink pen drawings rather than linoleum cut prints. The imagery is simple yet tells a story of a time much different from now.

Richard Mayhew and Myself

Along with the Spiral: American Masters show Evolve the Gallery had a special surprise 90^th Birthday party for Richard Mayhew one of the last surviving members. I was fortunate enough to attend this event and meet Mr. Mayhew. That night I hear him speak about becoming an artist and his life since spiral. Mayhew had the energy of a 20 year old; he bounced from table to table the night of his party sharing stories and laughing with family members who he had not seen in years. He shared a story with the party of how he did not originally intend to make a career out of being an artist. He said he originally wanted to be a singer, so he did his art on the side as a stress reliever. But when his singing career did not take off and his artistic career did, he decided to change paths in life and is now very successful because of it.

Merton D. Simpson, Untitled (from Confrontation Series), 1963, Oil on paper

The night of his party Mayhew thanked Evolve the Gallery for being the first gallery to bring together the Spiral group since the 60’s. I thought this show was amazing for the simple fact that I know the hard work that went into trying to find many of the pieces for this show. Some of these artists did not have a very successful career and it was difficult to track down works of theirs to put in the show. But in the end everything came together and I was glad to be a part of it and experience the Spiral group first hand.

Charles Alston, Figures in a Cityscape, c. 1960, watercolor on paper

Art History Symposium at CSUS

Before the symposium started 

Recently I attended the Festival of the Arts, Art History Symposium at CSUS. I was able to stay for only two talks and found them both entertaining and interesting. First was Kathan Brown the keynote speaker, who discussed Crown Point Press. In 1962 Brown started Crown Point Press originally as a print workshop but eventually moved into publishing works by different artists. Brown talked fondly of the artist she worked with over the years like Chuck Close, John Cage, Richard Diebenkorn, as well as many others. She described the evolution of the Crown Point Press and how even today one can take a workshop on the weekend and learn the printing process. I enjoyed all the photographs and videos she showed from the beginning of her development of the press. Brown also talked a little about the development of different techniques by different artists, like acid used on plates as well as artists today using digital imagery. If I was able to ask her a question I would have liked to ask her how she feels about the progression of technology in terms of the printing process? And how she feels about the more frequent use of digital imagery for printing? What I enjoyed most about her talk was the discussion she had about the idea behind so-called collaboration works. She believes that the if artist has the idea even if they need people to help them to bring it to life the work should not be considered a collaboration. This is always a topic of discussion and I enjoyed the way she explained it.

Keynote speaker Kathan Brown

John Byck during his presentation.

John Byck during his presentation.

Unfortunately since the keynote speaker went over on her time I was only able to stay for one additional speaker. John Byck presented next and I found his talk to be really interesting. Byck is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University and his presentation was on The Ship Engravings of Master W with the Key as Cultural Crossroads. He talked about a collection of ship engravings that were discovered that dated back to the 15^th Century. These engravings were particular because they were of a secular subject matter and are believed to be the first nautical engravings ever made. The artist is anonymous and known today only as Master W with the Key. Most of his works are signed with a monogram and eighty-five of his engravings survive today. Of his eighty-five works nine ornament ship engravings are his most well known. The argument of Byck’s paper is whether or not Master W was the first to make ship engravings or if the Italians were the first. Because of the obvious reproduction of certain ship engravings when the maritime print genre became popular, it is quite possible someone was copying work that was already done and not creating them simultaneously. Another problem in trying to figure out who made these engravings first is the issue of trade and movement of these prints across the sea in metropolitan areas, like where Master W was working. He ended by saying it is possible that we will never know who was the first but I still enjoyed hearing his presentation of the works.

Gas Giant

Jacob Hashimoto, Gas Giant, 2014

Bottom floor of Gas Giant installation

On a trip down to Los Angeles I had the opportunity to see Jacob Hashimoto’s latest work Gas Giant (2014) at the MOCA Pacific Design Center, and I was blown away by this beautiful piece. This particular MOCA location is the smallest of the three but housed this one massive work perfectly. This show included a large number of individual pieces but they all added up to just one work of art, the Gas Giant. Hashimoto is a Japanese American artist who was born in Colorado and lives and works in New York. With his work Hashimoto draws inspiration from his cultural past, using techniques from traditional Japanese kite making to create the large-scale installation works he is known for. In this exhibition Hashimoto is exploring the idea of collecting and the vastness of landscape.

Jacob Hashimoto, Gas Giant (top floor of installation)

One portion of the Gas Giant

     This has been the first exhibition I have attended that only included one artwork, but I feel it occupied the space well on its own. With other artworks this piece would not have done so well, this work consumed the gallery, as well as the viewer. This specific work included over 30,000 individual hand made kite-like objects. The viewer can easily approach the work and see that each one is made of paper and held only by a thin string. Once up-close one can examine that each kite is either delicately collaged with multiple pieces of colored paper or drawn on by hand. The number of small paper kites and thin hanging strings is almost overwhelming.             

     Though this piece is not site specific it worked well with the architecture of this particular building. The MOCA Design Center’s building is a big cube, with two stories. Inside, the Gas Giant consumed both floors. The first floor was draped with kites only black and white in color and tangled together in a violent mess. Displaying it this way disrupted the repetition of shapes and materials as well as possibly referenced the turbulent winds that destroy these delicate objects. On the second story the viewer is confronted with thousands of precisely placed colored kites. Each one holds on to the piece above it by a thin black string delicately connecting the objects. When the viewer walks through the space the works sways and becomes interactive depending on the movement. This swaying reminds one of what these objects are intended for, kites are made to fly yet these are place indoors only to move in response to the passer-by.

Detail of the paper kites

Myself at the Gas Giant show

This work has been displayed two other times but the Los Angeles exhibit is the last showing of this work. Like any installation this work has changed depending on where it was shown. This gives Hashimoto the ability to add or subtract from this work depending on what he feels is necessary. This work displays a type of obsessive collecting, the shear number of individual pieces shows the artist’s need to fill the space without crowding it. This shows that Hashimoto greatly considers each venue and manipulates the piece so that it works with its environment. The viewer can move freely throughout the museum, even close enough to inspect the work and speculate on the amount of time it would have taken to create such a massive yet temporary piece of art.

Jacob Hashimoto, Gas Giant, 2014

This work is able to reference landscape in the various designs on the kites, including pictures of clouds and even grass. Throughout the work, sections vary in the length of the strings attached to the kites giving the work movement even when it remains still. The repetition of shapes and style becomes soothing as one wanders the gallery space. Like the majority of Hashimoto’s work Gas Giant is made mainly out of paper, giving this work the ability to move. All elements of this artwork combine well, the material, the placement of objects, and the regard for space as well as the venue itself. Hashimoto’s craftsmanship and attention to detail shine through in this work. I would recommend this exhibition to anyone that is in the area; it is an exciting piece and a wonderful experience. Hashimoto’s work pulls the viewer in and amazes at every turn.    

Detail of Gas Giant